Percussion instrument

ABSTRACT

A musical perussion instrument having components which are removably mounted on a base providing space for storage and transportation, and including a drum head transducer with electronic circuit components including a signal amplifier and sound similators for simulating the sound of percussion instruments and other sounds in response to striking the head.

United States Patent May [54] PERCUSSION INSTRUMENT [72] lnventor:Gordon H. May, 1923 Camden Avenue,

San Jose, Calif. 95124 [22] Filed: June 25, 1971 [2]] Appl. No.: 156,994

Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation of Ser. No. 782,196, Dec.9, 1968, abandoned.

[52] US. Cl. ..84/1.04, 84/1.l3, 84/D1G. 12 [51] Int. Cl. ..G10h 3/00[58] Field ofSearch ..84/1.01,1.04,1.13,1.16,

84/1.17, 1.26, DIG. 12, DIG. 30

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,116,357 12/1963 Krebs..84/l.l6 3,217,079 11/1965 Murrel1.....

SAMPLE A 16 [451 Apr. 25, 1972 3,465,086 9/1969 Borell ..84/1 163,482,028 12/1969 Cox et 211., ....84/1 16 3,482,029 12/1969 Sines..84/1.16

3,509,264 4/1970 Green ..84/D1G. 12 3,539,699 11/1970 Johnson ..84/l 163,549,775 12/1970 Kaminsky ..84/D1G. 12 3,551,580 12/1970 Glenn..84/D1G. 12 3,553,339 l/1971 Dominguez ..84/D1G. 12

Primary Examiner-Lewis H. Myers Assistant Examiner-Stanley J. Witkowski[57] ABSTRACT A musical perussion instrument having components which areremovably mounted on a base providing space for storage andtransportation, and including a drum head transducer with electroniccircuit components including a signal amplifier and sound similators forsimulating the sound of percussion instruments and other sounds inresponse to striking the head.

12 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PERCUSSION INSTRUMENT This application is acontinuation of application Ser. No. 782,196 filed Dec. 9, 1968, and nowabandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This inventionrelates to percussion instruments, and is particularly suited foradaption to those percussion instruments employing sound synthesizingcomponents.

2. Description of the Prior Art Percussion instruments played withorchestras or other such stationarily positioned groups are usuallyplayed by one individual positioned near the middle of a plurality ofdifferent sound heads. The heads usually are struck by a stick or othersuitable means to generate various percussion sounds ranging, forexample, from those of bells or cymbals to those of a bass drum. Thenumber of instruments which one player needs is governed by the demandsof the music played and the physical space in which the components canbe placed and easily be reached by the player. Usually for any oneplayer the number is maintained constant since he becomes adjusted tothe precise positioning of each component such that the playing, eventhough fast with much intermingling of the percussion sounds, isautomatic in that he need not look precisely at the instruments.

Modern day music has put greater demands on the percussion player sincemany more sounds are being incorporated in the music. Much of thisdemand has been brought about with the wide ownership of high fidelitysound transcription equipment making it possible for the averagelistener to distinguish more expertly between the various instruments aswell as to appreciate the wide frequency range of his sound equipment.Thus, the trend has been for the percussion section to include many morecomponents which must be positioned precisely about the player for easyplaying. This also has multiplied the problems of transporting andsetting up the equipment for play at different locations.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a percussioninstrument which will generate a wide range of sounds yet which can beeasily played and efficiently and safely transported from place toplace.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A percussion instrument wherein the variousheads, pedals, and seat components are removably attached to a baseproviding internal compartments for transportation and storage, andincluding electronic transducer means and control switches easilyreached by the player to energize sound generating electronic equipmentfor producing a wide range of simulated percussion and other sounds.

The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of theinvention will be apparent from the following description of a preferredembodiment of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic and circuitdiagram of one embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of a preferred gating circuit for thecircuit of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the invention,and

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the embodiment of FIG. 3 with theinstruments shown in dotted outline stored in the base.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FIG. I shows a percussion instrument inwhich the subject invention can be applied. In the normal manner a head11 is struck by a stick I2 to generate a percussion sound. Normally thesound of such an instrument occurs from the vibration of the head andresults in a single sound varying in amplitude with the force with whichthe head is struck.

In accordance with the present invention, several sounds can beselectively generated by the striking of the single head 11. As shown inFIG. 1, the sound desired is selected by actuation of one or more of aseries of switches 50. Although said switches 50 are shown to be stickor finger operated, it should be understood that positioning on thefloor for foot operation may also be desirable as in the secondembodiment of this invention. Means are provided responsive to theactuation of each switch for generating a sound responsive in volume tothe force with which the head is struck and responsive in tone to theswitch which is actuated.

When the head 11, shown in FIG. 1, is struck, the impact is detected bya transducer 13 positioned within the instrument 10. An electric signalresponsive to the impact is passed through a conductor 14, the signalamplitude being a function of the force with which the head 11 isstruck. This signal is conducted to a standard sample and hold circuit15 which produces a direct output through the conductor 16 having avoltage V responsive to the amplitude of the signal in conductor 14. Thetransducer can be any type capable of picking up the sound vibrationsgenerated by movement of the head 11 (as a result of being struck) andcapable of transforming these sounds into an electrified signal. Forinstance a transducer similar to those used in electric guitars can beused. Said transducer is capable of sensing amplitude and frequency ofvibrations emitting from a given stimulus.

At the same time, the transducer signal is fed to a pulse shaper 17comprising a series of filter networks for deleting extraneous noise inthe signal. Thereafter the clear signal is fed to a single shotmultivibrator 18 which fires. The single shot generates (upon firing) apulse of sufficient duration to reset the sample and hold circuit 15after it has sampled the peak output of the signal from the conductor14. The signal thus passed through conductor 16 controls the gain of astandard amplifier 19 driving a loudspeaker 20, thereby determining theoutput volume of the sound generated.

The output signal from the pulse shaper 17 also is fed through conductor17a to a register 21 made up of a series of flip flop gate circuits 22.The purpose of the series of gates 22 is to vary with time the tonegenerated responsive to the head being struck. When a switch 50 isactuated, it causes a predetermined combination of switches 51, 52, and53 to close, thereby selecting a signal source, a timing rate, and anamplitude or frequency envelope respectively. This combination is chosento be characteristic of the instrument desired by the selection of oneof the switches 50. The closing of one or more of the switches 51, 52,53 allows a preset signal from one of the signal generators 24 to betransmitted to the loudspeaker 20 in a predetermined sequence to beexplained hereinafter. By using one or more of these preset signals in asequence, various simulated, percussion sounds are generated as a resultof the striking of the head 11.

In the FIG. 1 embodiment, register 21 is a digital shift register. Whenthe pulse shaper I7 delivers a signal through the conductor 17a to theregister 21 as shown, a logical one is set into the leftmost flip flopgate 22 with all other such elements being understood to contain logicalzeroes." The shift pulse generator 54 delivers pulses at a ratedetermined by the actuation of the switches 52 to all flip flop gatescausing them to shift the logical one" from left to right and finallyout the end of the register, leaving the register containing all logicalzeroes again. As each flip flop gate 22 assumes the one" state, it actsas a gate to pass the audio signal from the source 24 selected by switch51 to the summing impedance 55 selected by switches 53. This impedanceacts in conjunction with the reference impedance 56 to pass some portionof the audio signal to the amplifier 19 with the timing and duration ofthe signal portion being determined by the sound to be simulated. Thepulse generator 54 is capable of generating pulse signals at differentfrequencies. By selecting a proper switch 52, different frequencysignals are transmitted to the conductor 24a to change the rate ofactuation of the gates 22. In this manner double or triple beat soundscan be generated by a single striking of the percussion head 11.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the standard flip flop gate 22 in detail. Theaudio gating action takes places as follows: When the circuit is in thelogical zero state, transistor 60 is cut ofi, transistor 61 issaturated. The resistors R correspond to those normally used in a flipflop gate. The collector supply voltage is applied through conductor 24awith the audio signal from the selected signal source 24 superimposed.The signal is divided down by the ratio of the saturation impedance oftransistor 61 to the collector load impedance 62, therefore very littlesignal reaches the output conductor 63. When the circuit is switched tothe logical one state, transistor 61 becomes cut off and so looks like ahigh impedance. At this instant the signal applied through conductor 24ais passed directly through resistor 62 to the output terminal 63undiminished.

FIG. 3 shows a second embodiment of the invention. Herein a plurality ofcontact heads 11b, 11c, 11d, lle, 11f, and 11g are mounted on individualupright supports 30 attached to a base 31. These contact headspreferably are similar to those shown in FIG. 1 in that a percussionvibration is generated when a top-mounted membrane similar to the head11 is struck by a stick or other suitable means. Also, foot pedals 70are mounted on the top surface 39 of the base which functions in thesame manner as the switches 50 did in the first embodiment of theinvention.

In accordance with another feature of the present invention, FIGS. 3 and4 show storage means provided in the base for the instrument. Forinstance, all the contact heads are removably fixed to the supports 30which are also removably fixed to the base 31 by suitable clamps 32 and32a. Said clamps allow for horizontal and vertical adjustment of eachcontact head to suit the desire of the musician. Additionally, the baseprovides internal compartments shown in dotted outline (FIG. 4). FIG. 3shows access doors 35 suitable for the storage of these removablemembers for safe and easy transportation thereof. A removable seat 36also is provided for the player which is storable within the base. Thespecific arrangement in the base is optional. Additionally theelectronic equipment shown diagrammatically in FIG. 1 and represented bythe dotted outline 37 in FIG. 4 is mounted within the base 31 with thespeakers facing the front thereof. Suitable latch means 40 are alsoprovided to lock foot pedals 70 flush with the top surface 39 of thebase 31 for storage and transportation. Retractable casters 45 andcarrying handle 75 are provided for ease of moving the instrument fromplace to place.

It is understood that the musical instrument is not limited to thespecific musical instruments described but will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that other changes in the form and details may bemade without departing from the invention. The use of this device willenable the playing of a single contact head to generate the variouspercussion sounds, such as a bell, blocks, castanets, maracas,tambourines, a hihat, a bass drum, cymbals, tympani, and a bongo drum.The number of different instrument sounds is limited only by thecapabilities built into the basic signal generators.

I claim as my invention:

1. An electronic musical instrument comprising the combination of:

a. a contact head suitable for being struck with a stick or othersuitable instrument for mechanically activating said head;

b. electrical transducing means for generating a signal responsive tothe activation of the head being struck;

c. electronic means for receiving said signal and operable to aplurality of states to generate in each state a separate soundresponsive to the striking force and beat of said head being contactedbut representative of various individual instruments, said electronicmeans comprising a plurality of tone generators and a gating meansoperable responsive to said signal for creating different sounds in eachstate; and

d. switching means operable for switching said electronic means toselected ones of said states to enable the selec-- tion of the varioussounds by one beating said head e. said tone generators being coupled tosaid gating means through said switching means.

2. An electronic musical instrument as described in claim 1 wherein saidswitching means is positioned next to the contact head and operable bybeing struck by said stick.

3. An electronic musical instrument as described in claim 1 wherein saidswitching means is positioned below said contact head for operation bythe foot of the player.

4. An electronic musical instrument as described in claim 1 wherein saidelectronic means include a volume control positioned for constantoperation by the player for adjusting the sound level of the instrument.

5. An electronic musical instrument as defined in claim 1 wherein saidelectronic means include sound amplifying acting responsive to theamplitude of said signal for controlling the volume of the separatepercussion sounds.

6. An electronic musical instrument as defined in claim 1 wherein saidelectronic means includes a shift pulse generator operable to change theregister to a reverberating state to generate a heat which is a multipleof the beat created by the contact head being struck by a stick.

7. In an electronic musical instrument as defined in claim 1 furtherincluding f. a support for mounting each said head at a suitable levelfor the user to strike;

g. a seat on which the user can sit;

h. electronic amplifying means including an amplifier and speakercombination for receiving the sound signal and radiating it in anamplified state; and

i. a hollow base having mounting means for supporting said head supportsand said seat, said base including internal compartments for storingcontact heads, seat and supports therefor for transporting saidcombination and having compartments for mounting and amplifying meansduring both the transportation and playing of the instrument.

8. An electronic musical instrument as defined in claim 7 in combinationwith at least one base mounted foot pedal and connected electroniccontrol operable to adjust the sound generated by the amplifying meansresponsive to the striking of one of said contact heads.

9. An electronic musical instrument as defined in claim 8 wherein saidelectronic means includes tone generating means operable to a pluralityof states for generating and radiating in each state a separate soundresponsive to the signal resulting from the striking force and the beatof said contact head but representative in tone of individual musicalinstruments different from said contact head being struck.

10. An electronic musical instrument as defined in claim 9 including atleast one base mounted foot pedal operable for switching said tonegenerating means to various selected states.

1 1. An electronic musical instrument as defined in claim 10 whereinsaid electronic means is operable to a state wherein it generates asound which is a multiple beat with respect to the original beat createdby the activation of the contact head.

12. An electronic musical instrument as defined in claim 1 wherein saidcontact head comprises a plurality of contact heads.

1. An electronic musical instrument comprising the combination of: a. acontact head suitable for being struck with a stick or other suitableinstrument for mechanically activating said head; b. electricaltransducing means for generating a signal responsive to the activationof the head being struck; c. electronic means for receiving said signaland operable to a plurality of states to generate in each state aseparate sound responsive to the striking force and beat of said headbeing contacted but representative of various individual instruments,said electronic means comprising a plurality of tone generators and agating means operable responsive to said signal for creating differentsounds in each state; and d. switching means operable for switching saidelectronic means to selected ones of said states to enable the selectionof the various sounds by one beating said head e. said tone generatorsbeing coupled to said gating means through said switching means.
 2. Anelectronic musical instrument as described in claim 1 wherein saidswitching means is positioned next to the contact head and operable bybeing struck by said stick.
 3. An electronic musical instrument asdescribed in claim 1 wherein said switching means is positioned belowsaid contact head for operation by the foot of the player.
 4. Anelectronic musical instrument as described in claim 1 wherein saidelectronic means include a volume control positioned for constantoperation by the player for adjusting the sound level of the instrument.5. An electronic musical instrument as defined in claim 1 wherein saidelectronic means include sound amplifying acting responsive to theamplitude of said signal for controlling the volume of the separatepercussion sounds.
 6. An electronic musical instrument as defined inclaim 1 wherein said electronic means includes a shift pulse generatoroperable to change the register to a reverberating state to generate abeat which is a multiple of the beat created by the contact head beingstruck by a stick.
 7. In an electronic musical instrument as defined inclaim 1 further including f. a support for mounting each said head at asuitable level for the user to strike; g. a seat on which the user cansit; h. electronic amplifying means including an amplifier and speakercombination for receiving the sound signal and radiating it in anamplified state; and i. a hollow base having mounting means forsupporting said head supports and said seat, said base includinginternal compartments for storing contact heads, seat and supportstherefor for transporting said combination and having compartments formounting and amplifying means during both the transportation and playingof the instrument.
 8. An electronic musical instrument as defined inclaim 7 in combination with at least one base mounted foot pedal andconnected electronic control operable to adjust the sound generated bythe amplifying means responsive to the striking of one of said contactheads.
 9. An electronic musical instrument as defined in claim 8 whereinsaid electronic means includes tone generating means operable to aplurality of states for generating and radiating in each state aseparate sound responsive to the signal resulting from the strikingforce and the beat of said contact head but representative in tone ofindividual musical instruments Different from said contact head beingstruck.
 10. An electronic musical instrument as defined in claim 9including at least one base mounted foot pedal operable for switchingsaid tone generating means to various selected states.
 11. An electronicmusical instrument as defined in claim 10 wherein said electronic meansis operable to a state wherein it generates a sound which is a multiplebeat with respect to the original beat created by the activation of thecontact head.
 12. An electronic musical instrument as defined in claim 1wherein said contact head comprises a plurality of contact heads.